... the demands imposed by the media, leading to potential trade-offs. Here, we tested for the presence of such locomotor trade-offs depending on the environment (water or land) in a largely aquatic frog, Xenopus laevis . We focused on terrestrial and aquatic exertion capacity (time and distance swum or jumped...

... crystal's surface and restrict its growth within a certain temperature range. We investigated the ability of an antifreeze protein from the desert beetle Anatolica polita , Ap AFP752, to confer cryoprotection in the frog Xenopus laevis . Xenopus laevis eggs and embryos microinjected with Ap AFP752 exhibited...

... involved in development, perform loss-of-function experiments using programmable nucleases and analyze the phenotypic effects of mosaic mutant animals. This is enabled by the use of the amphibian Xenopus laevis and the butterfly Vanessa cardui , two organisms that reliably yield hundreds of large...

... induce motor reactions that stabilize sensory perception. Here, we demonstrate in isolated preparations of Xenopus laevis tadpoles that locomotor corollary discharge provokes a retraction of the mechanoreceptive tentacles during fictive swimming. In the absence of sensory feedback, these signals activate...

... for transporting oxygen to tissues. The regulation of erythropoiesis in vertebrates other than mammals is yet to be elucidated. Recently we identified erythropoietin, a primary regulator of erythropoiesis, in Xenopus laevis , which should enable us to identify target cells, including erythroid progenitors...

... responses to water are discussed. * Author for correspondence (e-mail: a.roberts@bristol.ac.uk ) 13 1 2009 2009 lateral line neuromast Xenopus laevis Aquatic fishes and amphibians have a lateral-line sensory system that enables them to detect water movements close...

...Christopher T. Richards SUMMARY The aims of this study were to explore the hydrodynamic mechanism of Xenopus laevis swimming and to describe how hind limb kinematics shift to control swimming performance. Kinematics of the joints, feet and body were obtained from high speed video of X. laevis frogs...

...) uncoupling protein (UCP) Xenopus laevis carboxyatractylate (CAT) In contrast to a high and constant metabolic rate in endothermic mammals,the metabolism of ectothermic vertebrates is rather low. A study comparing the metabolism of an ectothermic desert lizard to an endothermic rodent at the same...

...Monika Sundqvist; Susanne Holmgren SUMMARY The stomach of the amphibian Xenopus laevis is subject to extensive remodelling during metamorphosis. We investigated the changes in gastric activity control during this period using in vitro circular smooth muscle preparations mounted in organ baths...

... with muscle length data, force measurements were obtained using a novel tendon buckle force transducer placed on the Achilles tendon of Xenopus laevis frogs during brief accelerating bursts of swimming. In vivo work loops revealed that the plantaris generates a variable amount of positive muscle work over...

...Makoto Kubota; Takahiro Hasegawa; Takashi Nakakura; Haruna Tanii; Masakazu Suzuki; Shigeyasu Tanaka SUMMARY A new toad aquaporin (AQP) cDNA was cloned from a cDNA library constructed from the ventral skin of Xenopus laevis . This AQP ( Xenopus AQP-x5) consisted of 273 amino acid residues...

...Eberhard R. Horn SUMMARY During space flights, tadpoles of the clawed toad Xenopus laevis occasionally develop upward bended tails (tail lordosis). The tail lordosis disappears after re-entry to 1 g within a couple of days. The mechanisms responsible for the induction of the tail lordosis...

...Irena Rot-Nikcevic; Richard J. Wassersug SUMMARY Xenopus laevis tadpoles that arrest development and remain as larvae for several years sometimes occur spontaneously in laboratory populations. These tadpoles cease development at an early hindlimb stage, but continue to grow and develop into grossly...

... on the ionic channel aspect, in which a Tyr 147 (wild type) to Phe 147 (Y147F) site-directed mutation was investigated by steady-state electrophysiological measurements in the Xenopus laevis oocyte expression system. This tyrosine residue is conserved within the third transmembrane domain in members of the Na...

.... We investigated the existence of trade-offs between speed and endurance capacity at both the whole-muscle and whole-animal levels in post-metamorphs of the frog Xenopus laevis . The burst-swimming performance of 55 frogs was assessed using a high-speed digital camera, and their endurance capacity...

... that PACAP, VIP, nitric oxide and GABA, which are known to be important inhibitory neurotransmitters in other vertebrates, are widely spread in the enteric nervous system of Xenopus laevis and may be involved in the inhibitory control of gastric motility. Although no effect of PACAP,VIP, nitric oxide or GABA...

... hydrochloride ( l -NAME, 10 –4 mol l –1 ), a non-selective inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, on the diameter of tiny arteries and veins of the head in anaesthetized Xenopus laevis tadpoles (stage NF 50–53). Perfusion of the main artery and vein supplying the head with ET-1 caused an immediate, significant...

... a unique opportunity to compare olfactory receptors of both classes in one animal species, without the constraints of evolutionary distance between different vertebrate orders, such as fish and mammals. We therefore identified the complete open reading frames of class I and class II ORs in Xenopus laevis...

...Marie-Dominique Franco; Michael P. Pape; Jennifer J. Swiergiel; Gail D. Burd SUMMARY In Xenopus laevis , the formation of the adult olfactory epithelium involves embryonic, larval and metamorphic phases. The olfactory epithelium in the principal cavity (PC) develops during embryogenesis from...

... about the transport mechanism of metal ions by eukaryotic cells. Some insight has been gained from studies of the mammalian transporter DCT1 and the yeast transporter Smf1p by following the uptake of various metal ions and from electrophysiological experiments using Xenopus laevis oocytes injected...